Environmental Protection
Patrick has been at the forefront of efforts to combat climate change and other threats to the environment. Never one to back down from a fight he believed in, Patrick has taken on powerful special interests – whether it’s been corporations or the federal government -in an effort to protect the environment.
In his role as Attorney General, Patrick testified before the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the need for California's "Clean Car" standards in order to allow Rhode Island to accept the same standards to reduce greenhouse gases.
Patrick took the lead role in objecting to two separate proposals to establish liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in Fall River and Providence. Both proposals, if approved by the FERC, would necessitate the travel of 950-foot supertankers, carrying 37 million gallons of highly volatile LNG up the Narragansett and Mount Hope Bays.
The Attorney General filed extensive comments with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Coast Guard arguing against the proposals, as well as a petition to the U.S. Department of Transportation seeking dissemination of regulations that would require the LNG terminals to be moved offshore.
Under Patrick’s leadership, Rhode Island was one the states that filed a federal lawsuit using nuisance law to force carbon reductions from the country’s five highest-emitting electric power companies who were responsible for nearly one quarter of the emissions from the electric utility industry in the United States.
One of Patrick’s single biggest initiatives was the Riverkeeper, et al. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency matter, in which Patrick was lead counsel for Rhode Island and five other states in fighting the Bush Administration’s attempt to use regulations to water-down protections against power-plant related pollution. As a result, the Brayton power plant settled on terms that were highly favorable to the state.
In addition, the regulations never went into effect due to Patrick’s lawsuit. The delay worked to the environment’s benefit – the revision of the regulations are committed to the EPA under the Obama Administration, which is sympathetic to the environmental concerns that motivated the lawsuit to begin with.
Patrick also fought and won a case requiring Brayton Point to reduce its impacts on Mount Hope Bay and another requiring the Navy to pay monetary damages for the disposal of hazardous waste at Quonset Point.
Patrick will continue to fight to protect the environment as Governor. He will make Rhode Island a leader in creating “Green Jobs” by recruiting and retaining national and international clean technology companies through financial incentives.
Related News
Connect with Me